The Presidency dinner - Thursday 17
July 2008 |
| Francis King OBE, who lived for five years in Slovenia as the first British Council Director, worked closely with those who were establishing the new nation. He is an active member of the Slovene-British Society and continues to visit Slovenia. During this year he has maintained close links with the Slovenian embassy, helping to organise some of the events which marked the six months of the Slovenian EU Presidency. |  |
About thirty European Movement members and friends came to dinner at
the Birch Hotel in Haywards Heath. Francis King used his experience based in
Ljubljana to describe something of the character of the Slovenes, their long history and
eventual independence, before becoming the first of the 2004 EU accession states to take
on the responsibility of the EU Presidency in the first half of 2008.
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| "The outline of the logo for the Slovenian Presidency of the European Union resembles an oak leaf, which reflects the solid, persistent, dependable character of Slovenes, a people who are cool under pressure and thoughtful in their decisions. Oak wood represents high quality, as for example when used in wine barrels." |
Getting a sense of the mood of Slovenia:
|
The
country is noted for its prettiness, quintessentially European.
History
Slovenia has a population of just about 2 million, but innumerable variations of their
language. Reasons for this are a combination of its geography and a thousand years of
invasion and occupation – in times of stress the population withdrew into the deep
valleys, and within each small community the linguistic variations thrived, partly as a
defensive mechanism
From ancient times there is evidence of the region's resources being used – minerals
and bauxite.
The symbol of Ljubljana is a dragon, but it refers to an old legend that Jason had found
the Golden Fleece there.
The region of Slovenia has been through Celtic occupation, then annexed to the Roman
Empire, invaded by Germanic tribes and nomadic Avars, until the 7th century when Slav
people began to settle there. From the 14th century the region came under the control of
the Hapsburgs, a hegemony which survived Turkish invasion and Slovenian and Croatian
peasant revolts, and was incorporated into the Austro-Hungarian empire until the end of
the First World War.
continued in right-hand column
The Slovenes may be Slav but they think of themselves as Austrians. The architecture of the cities embraces art nouveau, secessionist and Viennese, none of it is Slavic. There is an innate xenophobia with the Slovenes looking to the north and people south of Slovenia regarded as lesser mortals, a mood carried into the post-WW1 Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which 11 years later became Yugoslavia. But the Slovenes lost the Carinthian part of their territory, annexed by Austria.
During the Second World War Slovenia was bisected, with Italy taking the west and Germany the east. It was the Jugoslav partisan army that liberated the whole of the Slovene region, linking its success to a socialist revolution. The fate of the Bela Garda (White Guard) remains a repressed dark episode, when some 12,000 collaborators and their families fled from Slovenia to Carinthia in southern Austria and were later handed over by British administrators to the Jugoslav authorities and subsequently massacred.
Marshal Josip Broz Tito was half Slovene, half Croat, and yet managed to dominate the Serbs – his death in 1980 led to slow economic and political collapse, with Slovenia first demanding independence in 1987, and eventually declaring it in 1991. The new state was in a stronger economic position, with a GDP 2˝ times the Jugoslav average. When independence came the new state was ready with stamps, a flag and the organs of nationhood already in place. There was comparatively little bloodshed during the abortive 10-day invasion by the Jugoslav army, but the Slovenes clearly needed powerful friends quickly. In 1992 the state was recognised by the European Union and given UN membership a few months later.
The EU Presidency
In the first half of 2008 Slovenia became the first of the central European accession
nations to hold the EU Presidency. Its catchword was “synergy”. It was a major
achievement for such a small country to get through the Presidency without any major
mishap, and to the Slovenes it established that a small country was not to be mocked. It
was responsible for organising major conferences with Latin America and with Russia.
Slovenia has difficulties with membership of the Schengen Treaty, having an unavoidably
porous border with Croatia, and is hoping that when Croatia gains EU membership it will
take on responsibility for the southern borders. Currently it takes some 3,092 Slovenian
police to attempt to secure the 670 km Schengen border with Croatia.
Future challenges for Slovenia
Economy – its forte lies in small electrical engineering. One
example was the Gorenje washing machine, which FK described as better than Bosch and
significantly cheaper. Its people tend to be talented and are linguistically gifted.
Pharmaceuticals are another important area of the economy. Tourism has tended to aim for
the “grey” market, though mountain areas provide skiing in winter and walking in
summer. The country has only 46 km of coastline.
Challenges – traditionally xenophobic, the Slovenes intensely
dislike the possibility of foreign take-over of their industries. There is a very
restricted and highly regulated labour market. Its people enjoy a lavish welfare state.
Agricultural practices are still in need of development.